Personal Blogs
This book dives in depth with the issues of free and open source software ecosystem; public digital infrastructure. The same infrastructure is currently powering the digital world from the stock market to newspapers to hospitals to space missions.
Nearly all software today relies on free, public code (called “open
source” code), written and maintained by communities of developers
and other talents. Much like roads or bridges, which anyone can walk
or drive on, open source code can be used by anyone—from compa-
nies to individuals—to build software. This type of code makes up
the digital infrastructure of our society today.
| Public Infrastructures | Physical | Digital |
| Examples | Roads & Bridges | Apps, Softwares & Internet |
| Build Time | Slow | Fast |
| Cost | High | Cheap |
| Rigidity | Very high | Changes rapidly |
| Utility | determined before building | determined post building |
| Managed | Centrally by one organization | often distributed without any authority |
| Maintenance | Low to none | very high |
| Life | Long; some 100+ years | Short as ecosystem frequently changes |